In a conventional elevator apparatus, since the drive machine, control panel and the like are installed in a machine room provided on an upper portion of a hoistway, it is necessary to provide a space for the machine room at an uppermost portion of a building. The utility efficiency of the building is consequently degraded and the height of the building is increased. In contrast, for example, there is proposed an elevator apparatus in which the drive machine is disposed in a hoistway to thereby dispense with a machine room. Concomitant with this, the control panel also has to be installed within the hoistway.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-10437 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-114481 discloses an elevator apparatus in which a control panel is disposed within a hoistway. However, in these apparatuses, since the control panel is fixed to the bottom of the hoistway, if water or the like enters the hoistway and accumulates in the bottom portion, if is possible that the control panel could be damaged and cease to function properly as a result of being lowered into the water.
On the other hand, in the elevator apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-180669, the control panel is moveably supported to a mounting bracket through rails and guide members. However, in this apparatus, the control panel is disposed in a machine room above the hoistway, and in addition, the control panel is only movable in a horizontal direction. Consequently, even if such a support structure was to be applied to the bottom portion of the hoistway, it would be impossible to avoid immersing the control panel in any water that had accumulated.